Portable Arduino Project Valise

Introduction: Portable Arduino Project Valise

I spend an inordinate amount of time for any of my projects searching for tools scattered throughout the house that I never put away after the last dozen projects were done. This project aims to reduce that time when it comes to enjoying one of my hobbies.

Step 1: The Inspiration

I bought this Heathkit "Digital Design Experimenter ET 3200" at a yard sale and it was the inspiration for this project. It would be nice to eventually incorporate the on-board 12V/5V power supply as well as one or two more of these breadboard connections in my own project enclosure.

Step 2: Finding a Suitable Enclosure

I had a metal project case laying around from when I was in school. I purchased a piece of plastic from a local plastics supply house, cut it on my table saw to fit snugly inside the metal case, then using a large bit drilled a hole on one side of the plastic big enough for one of my fingers to fit in. This hole is how I extract the plastic sheet from the case.

Step 5: Check Gap/clearance

Step 6: Put It All Together

The breadboards all had this peel and stick foam on the back. The protective cover had never been removed so I can reuse the foam once I figure out optimal positioning.

In retrospect I should have used a sheet of 1/8" or 1/16" 6061Aluminum. It does not flex and gives a shield mounted on the Arduino a little more headroom when the case is closed.

This project is not 100% complete. I will be adding power supplies to the boards as well as some other accouterments. I have several other cases with soldering irons, helping hands etc. I'm going to need to mark them on the outside for easy identification.